1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a spoke inserting apparatus for inserting spokes into spoke holes of hub for bicycles or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
An apparatus for inserting spokes into spoke holes of collar portion of a hub is proposed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 3-176201, in which a hub 101 is supported so that a hub shaft 104 is in a horizontal attitude, in which state, spokes are inserted into spoke holes 106 and 107 of the hub 101. This spoke inserting apparatus comprises, as shown in FIG. 10(a), a supporting apparatus (not shown) for supporting the hub 101 in a horizontal attitude and rotatably, a first driving apparatus 111 and a second driving apparatus 112 disposed on right and left of one first collar portion 102 of the hub 101 supported on the supporting apparatus to alternately insert spokes from inside and outside into the spoke holes 106 of the first collar portion 102, a third driving apparatus 113 and a fourth driving apparatus 114 disposed on right and left of the other second collar portion 103 of the hub 101 to alternately insert spokes from inside and outside into the spoke holes 107 of the second collar portion 103, and a sensor (not shown) for detecting that the spoke holes 106 of the first collar portion 102 and the spoke holes 107 of the second collar portion 103 are in a predetermined position. In this spoke inserting apparatus, as shown in FIG. 10(b), the hub 101 supported on the hub supporting apparatus 117 is rotated, when the detection is made that the spoke holes 106 and 107 are in a predetermined position, the rotation of the hub 10 is stopped so that the spokes are inserted into spoke holes 106a and 107a adjacent to the spoke holes 106 and 107 by the driving apparatuses 111 and 113 on one side, and at the same time, the spokes are inserted into spoke holes 106b and 107b adjacent thereto by the driving apparatuses 112 and 114 on the other side. After the operation of inserting spokes as described above, the hub is further rotated and the operation similar to the above is repeated whereby the spokes are alternately inserted in the reverse direction into all the spoke holes 106 and 107.
The spoke inserting apparatus shown in FIG. 10(a) is cumbersome because in the case where the size of the hub 101, for example, the spacing between the first collar portion 102 and the second collar portion 103, the pitch of the spoke holes 106, 107, and the diameter of the first collar portion 102 and the second collar portion 103 (that is, the diameter of a circular track in which the spoke holes 106, 107 are disposed), etc. are changed, it is necessary to separately adjust the position and attitude of the first driving apparatus 111, the second driving apparatus 112, and the third driving apparatus 113, and the fourth driving apparatus 114. The spoke inserting apparatus which improved the aforementioned drawback is proposed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 8-91007. In this spoke inserting apparatus, the spoke driving directions of the first driving apparatus 111 and the second driving apparatus 112 for inserting the first collar portion 102 are intersected by the spoke inserting hole located obliquely upwardly of the hub shaft 104 out of all the spoke holes 106 of the first collar portion 102, a first photo-sensor 115 having an optical axis passing through a point of intersection 120 and outputting a signal in the state in which the optical axis coincides with the spoke hole 106, and the relative position and the relative attitude of the first driving apparatus 111, the second driving apparatus 112 and the first photo-sensor 115 are fixed. On the other hand, the spoke driving directions of the third driving apparatus 113 and the fourth driving apparatus 114 for inserting the first collar portion 103 are intersected by the spoke inserting hole located obliquely upwardly of the hub shaft 104 out of all the spoke holes 107 of the second collar portion 103, a second photo-sensor 116 having an optical axis passing through a point of intersection 121 and outputting a signal in the state in which the optical axis coincides with the spoke hole 107, and the relative position and the relative attitude of the third driving apparatus 113, the fourth driving apparatus 114 and the second photo-sensor 116 are fixed. The first driving apparatus 111, the second driving apparatus 112 and the first photo-sensor 115, and the third driving apparatus 113, the fourth driving apparatus 114 and the second photo-sensor 116 are made integral with each other and can be reciprocated in the direction of the hub shaft 104 of the hub 101 and in symmetrically to right and left about the hub 101.
As described above, in the conventional apparatus, the spoke driving directions of the first driving apparatus 111 and the second driving apparatus or third driving apparatus 113 and the fourth driving apparatus 114 for inserting the spokes from inside or outside of the first collar portion 102 or the second collar portion 103, and the first photo-sensor 115 and the second photo-sensor 116 of the optical axes passing through the points of intersections 120 and 121 are provided. Therefore, even if the pitches of the spoke holes 106 and 107 of the hub 101 are different, if the rotation of the hub 101 is stopped when the first photo-sensor 115 and the second photo-sensor 116 detect the spoke holes 106 and 107 of the first collar portion 102 and the second collar portion 103, the driving directions of the first driving apparatus 111 to the fourth driving apparatus 114 are directed at the spoke inserting holes and in the state capable of inserting the spokes. Therefore, the position and attitude of the first driving apparatus 111 to the fourth driving apparatus 114 need not be adjusted for the purpose. Further, the first driving apparatus 111, the second driving apparatus 112 for inserting the first collar portion 102 and the first photo-sensor 115, and the third driving apparatus 113, the fourth driving apparatus 114 for inserting the second collar portion 103 and the second photo-sensor 116 are made integral with each other and can be reciprocated in the direction of the hub shaft 104 of the hub 101 and in symmetrically to right and left about the hub 101. Therefore, even if the spacing between the first collar portion 102 and the second collar portion 103 is different, the point of intersection 120 of the driving directions of the first driving apparatus 111 and the second driving apparatus 112, and the point of intersection 121 of the driving directions of the third driving apparatus 113 and the fourth driving apparatus 114 can be coincided with the spoke inserting hole of the first collar portion 102 and the spoke inserting hole of the second collar portion 103, respectively, by the reciprocating movement as described, enabling the simple correspondence without adjusting the attitude of the first driving apparatus 111 to the fourth driving apparatus 114. Further, the hub supporting apparatus 117 is provided with a vertical moving mechanism 118 capable of vertically reciprocating the supported hub 101 within a plane vertical to the direction of the hub shaft 104 and a lateral moving mechanism capable of laterally reciprocating it, as shown in FIG. 12. Therefore, even if the diameters of the first collar portion 102 and the second collar portion 103, the point of intersection 120 of the driving directions of the first driving apparatus 111 and the second driving apparatus 112, and the point of intersection 121 of the driving directions of the third driving apparatus 113 and the fourth driving apparatus 114 can be coincided with the spoke inserting hole of the first collar portion 102 and the spoke inserting hole of the second collar portion 103, respectively, by the vertical moving mechanism 118 and the lateral moving mechanism 119, making the individual adjustment of the first driving apparatus 111 to the fourth driving apparatus 114.
Further, by the mere driving of the spoke according to the driving apparatus of the spoke inserting apparatus as described above, the spokes can not be completely inserted into curved heads of the spoke holes 106, 107 of the collar portions 102, 103, resulting in the half-inserted state (see FIG. 8(a)) in which the spokes are inserted into the midst thereof. Therefore, there is disposed a spoke entanglement preventive apparatus (a spoke handling apparatus) for pulling the half-inserted spoke into a completely inserting position (see FIG. 8(b)) as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 3-176203. The spoke entanglement preventive apparatus includes an arrangement wherein a turnable rod-like pull-in piece is placed in contact with an extreme end of a spoke, and an arrangement which has a holding portion capable of holding an extreme end of a spoke, the holding portion being provided slidably in a pull-in direction. These apparatuses are provided every driving apparatus, totalling to four. In these spoke entanglement preventive apparatuses, every time a hub different in size is changed, the spacing relative to the hub has to be separately adjusted by hand.
In the spoke inserting apparatuses shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, in the case of being applied to the hub 101 different in size, it is not necessary to individually adjust the first driving apparatus to the fourth driving apparatus 114 as described above, but every halves may be integrally relatively moved, which is therefore handy as compared with the spoke inserting apparatus shown in FIG. 10(a) while is still cumbersome in that the hub 101 need be moved vertically and laterally by the hub supporting apparatus 117. Furthermore, in the apparatuses, no consideration is taken into the case where in the integral adjustment as described above, the spoke entanglement preventive apparatus (the spoke handling apparatus) is provided in which the spokes inserted into the spokes 106, 107 of the first collar portion 102 and the second collar portion 103 of the hub 101 are inserted and moved to the final inserting position.
It is an object of the present invention to solve the problems as noted above and provide a spoke inserting apparatus in which in the case where a hub is first set and in the case where a hub whose size is changed is set, positions and directions of various apparatuses such as driving apparatuses, photo-sensor, spoke entanglement preventive apparatuses, etc. can be adjusted easily.